Singapore – The Southeast Asian region has seen a steadfast growth in its advertising realm, more specifically in social media which has jumped to 74.29% this year, according to the latest data from a report by customer experience and social media marketing company Emplifi.
Based on their latest findings, said percentage was evident on Facebook and Instagram advertising on a year-on-year (YoY) end basis during Q2. The report noted that SEA brands spend US$2,287.22 per ad account on average per month, registering the advertising cost growth to 85.75%.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, the social ad spend surged to 106% YoY to US$2,162.96 per ad account per month. Under this factor, the e-commerce category accounted for 41.8% of the total interactions of brand pages on Facebook in Q2 2021. On Instagram, the services sector took up the most interactions at 17.6%, followed by the retail category with 16.8%. These industries are mainly service-based, demonstrating that brands are adapting to the modern consumer and providing customer support and customer service through social media platforms.
According to Zarnaz Arlia, chief marketing officer at Emplifi, the ongoing increase in social media ad spend is proving to be more than just a pandemic-related ‘bounce-back’ scenario, adding that more and more brands are relying on social media marketing to engage with their audiences meaningfully and at scale.
“Social commerce and the formats which support it are also becoming more prevalent as the year goes on. As more brands recognize the value of live streaming and start to leverage more live content to cater to users at different stages of the customer journey,” Arlia stated.
Another factor tackled in the report is that Facebook Live videos earned the highest number of organic post interactions and delivered three times the engagement rates of standard videos globally, but account for less than 1% of branded posts. In Singapore, Facebook Live videos and video posts performed the best compared to other formats such as status, photo, and links posting.
On a global scale, global social ad spend saw a 50% YoY jump while the overall worldwide CPC grew by 85.1%. Marketers spent 49.9% more on Facebook and Instagram advertising globally compared to Q2 2020.
“As more and more consumers begin to expect a brand’s social media channels to facilitate outstanding customer experiences across many stages of the customer journey, the importance of engagement and interaction data is taking on a greater significance. What we’re seeing is that an engaging and responsive social media presence is no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ for consumer-facing brands, it’s a key point of differentiation,” Arlia added.
